Pages

September 22, 2008

Simplest Smoothie Recipe Ever

Want a better post about Smoothie Recipes? This one is a bit old and incomplete; I've got a new, bigger, better Smoothie Recipe post right here: Healthy Smoothie Recipes! (And sorry, googlers, for the extra click).

This post is not just a cynical attempt to discover if "Smoothie Recipe" is something people might google someday and suddenly find themselves at Cranky Fitness.

Well, OK, partly it is. As Merry mentioned in a previous post about squash, we find ourselves forever indebted to our reader Susan for her stuffed bell pepper recipe. It brings us almost as much traffic as some of our most popular search terms: "big fat ass," "flat belly diet," and "big bouncy breasts!" We don't know if it's something particular about stuffed peppers, or if it's just having "recipe" in the title. Whatever it is, we'd certainly like to encourage it.

But really, that's not the main reason for suddenly posting about smoothies.

It's just that lately I've rediscovered drinking smoothies for breakfast. Sometimes I go through smoothie phases, where nothing sounds better. Healthy and easy, but tasty too--it's like getting to drink a milkshake at 8 a.m., but with no guilt!

But then all of a sudden, for no particular reason I'm all: meh, no thanks. Done with smoothies. Buh bye. Catch ya' again in another 6 months or so.

As Easy as Pie! Wait, pie isn't easy...

Now there are different schools of thought on smoothies, and lots of people like complicated smoothies with all kinds of exotic and nutritious ingredients in them. You folks: sorry, this recipe will seem pathetic. There is nothing green or fermented or powdered or specially imported.

(I'm hoping you'll all share your smoothie tips with us in the comments, because smoothies are a personal thing--so the more options, the better.)

No, this recipe is probably better designed for people who end up buying the overpriced kind at the mall food court every now and then, hoping it's a relatively healthy choice. (Alas, not always. Unless, for example, a 560 calorie pina colada smoothie from Smoothie Factory with 105 grams of sugar sounds like a nutritional bargain). This super-simple recipe is to encourage you non-smoothie making folks to buy a blender, or if you have an old relic in the basement, to find it and resurrect it.

(Note: If it still smells like Cuervo, lime juiceand triple sec, you probably need to wash it).

If Crabby can do it, you certainly can. There's only one tricky part, which we'll get to in a moment.

Finally, The Recipe:

Ready? Here we go:

Easy Smoothie Recipe:

1 cup milk (I use nonfat)
1/2 cup frozen banana slices
1/2 cup Some Other Tasty Frozen Fruit
A small splash of vanilla (optional)
And maybe a little bit of sugar, honey or other sweetener to taste (also optional).

I usually pour the milk in first, since the lines on the blender measure it for me, then I dump in the frozen fruit, vanilla, and (gasp) a tiny bit of splenda. Next, I hit the "Frappe the hell out of it, baby," button.

Voila!

It's basically just nonfat milk and fruit, but the frozen bananas magically transform it into something that tastes like it should be evil.

The tricky part I mentioned? It's having the damn sliced frozen bananas and some other kind of frozen fruit on hand. It just doesn't taste as good with ice and room temperature fruit.

So when you buy bananas and they start to go bad, you gotta cut 'em and freeze 'em. This is one of those annoying "think ahead" things. I usually use frozen blueberries for the other fruit, which is why I have such an awesome memory, but mango is also pretty tasty.

Do any of you drink smoothies? What do you like in 'em?

55 comments:

Note: this is the first test of "read more." Hope it doesn't drive you crazy.

I'm thinking it might be better, if it's possible, to have a "jump" directly to the point where the home page post left off, so that you could start reading again right where you left off. But it's also possible that the jump could seem annoying. Any thoughts?

It's not actually to increase ad exposure so much as to make the home page a bit more friendly... I often tend to write LONG posts. If someone isn't interested in a particular topic, it's a lot of scrolling to see what else is on there; it's a little easier to browse if the posts don't go on forever and ever.

But it's a trade-off, and I do feel badly for that extra click for those who DO want to read the whole post.

I actually didn't even notice the "read more" link... come to think of it, that's because I used my feed reader (uh, that would just be Firefox, actually) to bypass the front page and come directly here. So I don't care one way or the other.

I've long since stopped using "read more" links on my blog, though. Not for the sake of people using feed readers, but because given the topics I write about, putting things behind a "read more" link feels like I'm "hiding" it because I'm ashamed for people to read it. So, everything on the front page. Keeps me honest.

ChickenGirl: yeah, not everyone likes or can tolerate milk. Then there are the Juice people, of course.

Actually soy milk tasted really nasty to me at first but I've grown used to the taste when I want something different. Might be worth trying a couple more times if you're the sort who "gets used to things."

Years ago when I worked in the deli, we made smoothies, but they never had milk in them. (We had a fair percentage of vegan customers--our soy cheese pizza was popular) Just frozen fruit and protein powder and fruit juice, but the liquid proportion was much less than this recipe. I'd expect it to be too wet.

I prefer to chew calories instead of drink them so while I like smoothies, I don't have them often. As for the read more, if you keep it, make it jump to where the post left off. I dislike having to scroll down and find the correct paragraph!

I like smoothies now and again. I rarely eat bananas anymore after having seen a banana plantation in Costa Rica and the environmental damage they cause. *Must. Not. Must. Not. Rant.* That said, frozen bananas with almond milk make a great base for smoothies and if you mix in chocolate instead of fruit it makes a more than acceptable milkshake. Soy milk works, too.The read more feature is a minor annoyance, but hardly something to fret about.

This post didn't show up on my iGoogle page yet which is how I get my feeds. I only knew it was here because I saw it earlier and came back to read it now. Confused? sorry. Did you change any of your delivery/posting stuff when you changed your layout?

Anyway, I do not like the read more thingy and prefer to have chewing invloved in my meal.

Holly - I use the Google Reader on my iGoogle page also and it showed up fine. I have noticed in the past, with other blogs, that Reader is sometimes slow about picking those up. It has helped me to take a blog off my list and then resubscribe if it isn't correcting itself.

My google RSS isn't picking it up either...the read more thing doesn't normally bother me though, since I go through the RSS right to the page.

I LOVE SMOOTHIES! I have them every morning for breakfast. But one major point I disagree on is the frozen fruit. I do use frozen fruit sometimes if I don't have any fresh fruit on hand, but I don't like my smoothie to be too cold. So in the spring/summer/fall when there's fresh fruit available, I have bananas and two other kinds of fruit (this morning it was peach and cantaloupe), a dash of water, some flax oil, and some vanilla whey protein powder. Blend and drink. Mmmm mmm mmmm! I find ice makes it too cold. And when I buy frozen strawberries in the winter, I defrost them in the fridge first so that they're not too cold.

Cranky Bag Lady here - don't like "read more" - oh, wait, does that just make me lazy?Don't drink smoothies, either, so maybe Merry is on to something!!

If you MUST have "read more", at least have it jump directly to where it left off. Seriously, "read more" puts me off more blogs than I can say - especially when I'm in a hurry (most of the time, these days) - I can't be bothered to wait for another page to load.Impatient? - who, me?Honest? - you betcha!

I love smoothies, I'm just too dang lazy to make them...with all the washing of the blender, and cutting up fruit, etc. We go through phases at home like you Cranky....for a month or so it's worth it. Then we quit and come back to smoothies in about a year.

I don't mind one way or the other about "read more", just need my daily laughs from you. Nice Look!

My smoothie thing: I just add soy milk or 1% (~1c), half a banana and about 1 heaping c of frozen fruit with a dash of honey and some flax powder.I just recently got back to smoothies for breakfast.I'm hooked.It's like having dessert for breakfast :)

I do 1 scoop of unsweetened protein powder, 1 banana, some frozen fruit, ice, and water... doesn't really need extra sweetener imho. If I'm out of protein powder, I use silken tofu.

The thing about frozen banana is that it never lasts in my freezer. I LOVE eating frozen banana for some reason. You know what I haven't had in a while - a chocolate-dipped frozen banana! Now THAT would be good in a smoothie.

Smoothies are pretty decent. But to be honest I don't like them enough to go through the process of making them and then cleaning up the blender afterward. Cleaning blenders sucks if you own a crappy one.

"read more" dosn't bother me, so if it makes the new design work nicer, go for it.

Smoothies are something I've been meaning to get into making, but my last attempt met with mixed results. Mostly because I was attempting to add protein powder, which made the whole thing taste like sawdust. Once I procure a properly amazing blender, I will try this new and improved simpler recipe and see if I can't tweak it to include protein powder....sans sawdust hopefully.

I love smoothies. My favorite is to use several large spoonfuls of lowfat/nonfat plain yogurt, a large handful of frozen strawberries and some 100% juice of some sort. I don't really measure, I just put it in until it looks right. Delicious.

I can see yours on my reader, but mine isn't showing up. I have yet to figure out how these readers are supposed to get the feeds in a timely manner. Yours have generally been as soon as you post, but mine seem to have some quirky delay. You must have caught it by association! Sorry!

Holly:ok, this is embarrassing, but I don't tend to read blogs on a feedreader. I just added my own blog to my google home page so I know if it's messed up or not. I'm not subscribed to almost any of the blogs I read.

Shocking, huh?

I tend to just follow links or type the beginning of your url into my browser. (So even though I encourage everyone to subscribe to CF via reader, I'm too much of a Luddite to use the reader myself!)

But if your still having the problem and need info let me know and I'll try subscribing to you and see what happens.

We have a Fruits at our fitness center. People walk around the gym drinking smoothies all the time. Too high in calories for my taste. I have this strange notion that unless you are a bodybuilder, you leave the fitness center calorie deficient from your entrance! Your smoothie recipe sounds much better!

Our smoothie recipe looks a lot like yours, except we toss in a handful of baby spinach. Yes, it looks gross, but I can't taste the difference. (I got the idea from AskMoxie. It's one of the few ways I can sneak greens in on my 4 year old.)

There's this gross-sounding but very, very yummy stuff called PB2. It's basically peanut butter than they pressed all the oil out of, then made into powder. Eww, powdered peanut butter?? But folks, it has about 1/4 the calories and in smoothies, it's pure heaven. Makes a frozen-banana and strawberry smoothie taste like a filling PBJ meal--it has plenty of protein. Google it to get the website.

Yeah, blog looks really slick and very contemporary now, but also not as warm and furry, and I don't like read more because I have to find where it left off, but would be willing to get used to it just for youse guys, and what "comment balloons"?? Where? Are they right under my nose??? I am having a very low IQ day via migraine...

Smoothies, what a great idea, better than lattes (well not really better but probably healthier and a nice alternative).

Here's my latest smoothie recipe

about 2 cups real vanilla ice cream, maybe 3 if it looks like I might have to sharea dash of vanillaa little strong, cold coffeemaybe some cocoa powder

Yum!

Yogurt is a great idea though, I will try that, and bananas seriously hate me, I cannot eat them, they make my stomach ache like crazy. I can see using frozen berries and adding a little whey powder. Almond milk maybe, soy though (milk or protein powder or tofu) is not really something we should be eating. Do a little research, it is more of a way for big companies to get rid of a byproduct than it is nutritious and healthy. Not good for guys either, the phytoestrogens can cause erectile problems. I banned it from the house a couple of years ago, hubs is now a star in the BR! ;)

On the other hand, if you want to slow a guy down, bring on the soy...

And yeah, tk, definitely some controversy about soy. It got over-hyped in the past, and some people started consuming huge quantities. While it's probably not a good thing to eat it constantly, my impression is that for most people, soy in moderation is not a huge problem. But I like your coffee/cocoa/ ice cream idea too!

I just discovered smoothies myself and LOVE them!! I use room temp bananas most of the time, but the frozen sound delicious! I use milk, ice cubes, some kind of fruit and protein powder in mine. I live alone and just bought myself a magic bullet and I love it! easy clean up and I can drink right out of the container so there is less to clean up!

I don't mind the jump but I am "oldfashioned" and come to Cranky Fitness through a bookmark.

As to frozen banana slices--they are a wonderful snack all by themselves, as my son-in-law taught me years ago. I am not a big smoothie person as they tend to be too high carb for diabetics like me, but this one does sound good and sure seems easy.

Frozen bananas are amazing in smoothies..make he consistency so yummy..and act wayyy better then ice bc it doesnt melt as quicky and leave you with a runny watery smoothie if you like to take ur time with it ..like i do :).I use vitamineral greens, hemp protein, flaxseeds, i frozen banana, 2 peaches, almond milk and some cold chai tea from the night before...super duper yummy morning smoothie.. :)))))